Wednesday, November 1, 2006

Gun To My Head

OK, so one of my favorite all-time bloggers, blogging royalty, one of the reasons I started my own first blog, M. Kennedy of fussy.org, had this brainchild, in which bloggers would band together and agree to make one post per day for the entire month of November, and christened it National Blog Post Month, or NABLOPOMO for, um, "short." I signed on at my main blog, and so decided to go ahead and give it a shot here, too. For the full story, pull the trigger (clicky clicky) on the above image.

As I mentioned over at the other place, I can't promise you astounding daily quality of content--I might be forced to blog about "Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go!", or something, but I can promise that I'll at least BE HERE. And in the hopes that if I start off here with something totally lame, things can only improve, I give you this observation:

Did anyone else examine the giant, GIANT insert, printed on thick, glossy paper, in this past Sunday's Democrat-Gazette, for the new Parisian store opening in Little Rock? Did you look at the featured clothes? And did you think to yourself, as I did, ESPECIALLY with the clothes featured on the last page, that if any one of those outfits had been exhibited on "Project Runway," that the designer would have been immediately "aufed?" I mean, there was some serious ugly happening in that insert. Unflattering, uncoordinated, and VERY misguided (in my opinion) for the local market. I have heard from friends in areas with Parisian stores that they do have nice clothes, but those advertising selections...

Anyone? If you managed to hit the Grand Opening, please comment, and let me know what the Saks folks think is going to be selling big in Little Rock, and if you like it!

See you tomorrow.

Belinda also blogs from her home base on the Internet, NINJA POODLES! Expect chaos. During November, expect it daily.

Comments

More by Belinda

Yeah, the economy sucks. Money's tight. You don't have to tell me twice, since I'm looking at overdue medical bills and have a mower being held hostage at the repair shop, and a destroyed stretch of fence that must be mended ASAP. It stinks. Before, I might've turned to Craigslist or Ebay in an attempt to sell outgrown kids' clothes, no-longer-used horse tack, Hubby's hunting gear (shhhh), or anything that isn't nailed down, for extra cash. But what do you do when no one else has any money, either? They can't buy your stuff if they don't have any more cash than you do.Well, as I am learning right now, one thing you can do is return to your historical roots, and try bartering. It may sound archaic at first, but really, it's something that's intuitive and natural...so much so that you're almost certainly already doing it, to some extent, without even realizing it. We all keep a mental "scorecard" of sorts (though we'd never be so crass as to call it, or even think of it, in those terms, probably) of favors we owe and kindnesses given us, and tend to repay them in kind. When you pick up the check at lunch with a friend, you probably do so knowing that your buddy'll get it next time. It's a kind of tacit give and take that we enjoy in a civilized society, and it's not much of a stretch to extrapolate that experience into something broader and more literal, with tangible rewards.This all came home to me recently thanks to an exchange that began, as so many these days do, on Craigslist. (Let me just pause here a moment and say how grateful I am that Arkansans are finally coming around to realizing the enormous usefulness of Craigslist. It's about time!) I had placed an ad to sell a few of our surplus Narragansett turkeys, and while there I of course had to look around and see what was up for grabs near me. It's easy to fall down the Craigslist rabbit-hole, even without visiting the fantastically entertaining "missed connections" listings.There was an ad for established strawberry plants, at a real honey of a price, and they could be picked up just a mile or so from my home! I've wanted strawberries for the longest time, so I responded to that ad straightaway, and asked the very nice gentleman who'd placed the ad some basic questions about their care, and made arrangements to pick up my new plants. When I went to meet the strawberry seller at a local gas-mart, I took along a dozen fresh eggs, which is something I tend to do when I'm feeling sociable--everyone likes fresh eggs, right? At this point, because it is just about to become relevant, I should show you what a sampling of fresh eggs from our place looks like.

And I'm taking the fact that this blog still exists as an indication that I'm still allowed to post here. Is that presumptuous?I'm sorry for the long, long absence, and I will try to make up for it in the months to come. Things have been...well, harsh. Difficult. But that's neither here nor there, in the here and now. I'm back, and I'll try to stay.

I'm only just now, as President-Elect Barack Obama prepares to make his victory speech, beginning to relax emotionally, and realizing how very beaten-down and pessimistic I have felt for the last eight years, particularly the last four.